GREEN EXPO
RESOURCES:

Recap of the Event

Community & Technical Colleges Pathways to Green Collar Success (PDF 84.8 KB)

- Susan Hoyne, Dean, Math & Science,Shoreline Community College
- Molly Baxter, Program Administrator, Apprenticeship & Education Center
- Leann McCarthy, Director for Recruitment and Student Life, North Alberta Institute of Technology
- Ellen Gordon, Instructor, South Seattle Community College

The Northwest is home to strong community and technical college programs. Come hear about the green training programs that are being planned and in development. How can we best promote education and training opportunities for these technical career opportunities? North Alberta has had some particular success recruiting students into their programs. Find out how.

A Renewable Energy Case Study: The Chena Hot Springs Geothermal Energy System 
(PDF 7.16 MB)

- Bernie Karl, Owner, Chena Hot Springs Resort
- David D. Paul, UTC Power

For those who want to know more about the nuts and bolts of the “low temperature” geothermal systems.

More Resources: The Career Pathways How-to Guide (PDF, 570 K) by Davis Jenkins and Christopher Spence, Workforce Strategy Center, October 2006 Seattle Job Initiative's Job Trends Report (PDF, 562 K)  July 2008 THE GREEN ECONOMY IN THE NEWS:   October 23, 2008 Van Jones a NY Times Bestseller Van Jones' new book, The Green Collar Economy is an NYTimes bestseller! The first-time author's book made it to the #12 spot on The New York Times' best-seller list during its very first week in print. This makes Van the first African-American writer to pen an environmental best-seller. Read about the push to make the book a bestseller on The Huffington Post. And a Q&A with Van Jones. October 7, 2008: US green employment to double, mayors claim Report predicts more than 2.5 million urban green jobs by 2018 Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen "Green collar jobs" could more than double in the next 10 years, making it the fastest growing employment sector, according to a new report by the US Conference of Mayors. The report, US Metro Economies: Current and Potential Jobs in the US Economy, estimates that there are roughly 750,000 jobs related to the green sector in the US today. By 2018, it says that this could grow to 2,540,800. By 2038, the figure could reach 4.2 million jobs. Click here to access the full story online. October 6, 2008: Climate Solutions How the Northwest can thrive in a clean-tech marketplace   Climate Solutions and the leading clean-tech research firm Clean Edge have teamed up to release an important and very timely new report, Carbon Free Prosperity 2025: How the Northwest Can Create Green Jobs, Deliver Energy Security, and Thrive in the Global Clean-Tech Marketplace. This new study shows that the Pacific Northwest can create up to 63,000 new high-paying jobs in the region by 2025 within five focus areas: Solar PV Manufacturing Wind Power Development Green Building Design Services   Sustainable Bioenergy Smart-Grid Technologies The new report lays out a ten point action plan designed to help the Pacific Northwest seize global leadership in clean technology -- creating jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and swiftly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Free Prosperity 2025 could not come at a better time for the economy or for the planet. The daily headlines show the massive economic challenges facing our region, our nation, and the globe. Our fossil fuel dependence results in a massive drain on our economy and a huge security risk, with billions of dollars being siphoned overseas. And a recent report showed that global carbon emissions increased in 2007 faster than the worst-case predictions of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on global warming. These are enormous challenges, but they also create equally enormous economic opportunities for the regions that can lead the way in creating real solutions. September 9, 2008: Green Recovery A New Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy A new report shows that the United States can create 2 million jobs over two years by investing in a rapid green economic recovery program. "Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy," was prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst under commission by the Center for American Progress. It was authored by Robert Pollin, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, James Heintz, and Helen Scharber of PERI. The new report shows that this $100 billion green economic recovery package would: Create nearly four times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry and 300,000 more jobs than a similar amount of spending directed toward household consumption.  Create roughly triple the number of good jobs—paying at least $16 dollars an hour—as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.   Reduce the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent from 5.7 percent (calculated within the framework of U.S. labor market conditions in July 2008).    Bolster employment especially in construction and manufacturing. Construction employment has fallen from 8 million to 7.2 million over the past two years due to the housing bubble collapse. The Green Recovery program can, at the least, bring back these lost 800,000 construction jobs.    Provide opportunities to rebuild career ladders through training and workforce development that if properly implemented can provide pathways out of poverty to those who need jobs most. (Because green investment not only creates more good jobs with higher wages, but more jobs overall, distributed broadly across the economy, this program can bring more people into good jobs over time.)    Help lower oil prices. Moderating domestic energy demand will have greater price effects than modest new domestic supply increases. Begin the reconstruction of local communities and public infrastructure all across America, setting us on a course for a long-term transition to a low-carbon economy that increases our energy independence and helps fight global warming. Currently, about 22 percent of total household expenditures go to imports. With a green infrastructure investment program, only about 9 percent of purchases flow to imports since so much of the investment is rooted in communities and the built environment, keeping more of the resources within the domestic economy. To read the full story, click here. The report is accompanied by state-by-state fact sheets showing the potential impact on each state in terms of investment and new jobs. To see Washington state's fact sheet, click here. September 2008 New Report: Emerging Green Economy Could Create Tens of Millions of "Green Jobs" The UN Environment Programme says changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change are generating new jobs and could create millions more in developed and developing countries. Click here to read the full report.